Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News: “Tim Duncan, according to one of his new teammates, looked every bit his All-NBA self through the entire preseason. ‘Man, he’s as talented and as good as he’s ever looked since I was playing against him,’ said Antonio McDyess, who competed against Duncan for 13 seasons before joining him this summer. ‘He came in with a loss of weight and ready to play. I don’t know what it was, the trades or whatever, but he’s got a championship in mind, and he’s come out here and worked hard every day. You pretty much have to pull him out of practice. Looking at him every day, he just looks like he has that will to win every game.’ Ginobili, ever a harsh self-critic, believes the quirky, energized game that made him an All-Star and the 2008 Sixth Man Award winner remains a few weeks from returning to his hands. ‘Physically, I’m fine,’ Ginobili said. ‘Conditioning, I’m good. Basketball, I’m not ready.’ Duncan believes his Argentine teammate will find a big difference now that the games count for something besides evaluation of talent and game-shape conditioning. ‘I think he looks great and is moving great and playing with a lot of confidence,’ Duncan said after Tuesday’s final preseason practice. ‘Once you get on the floor and you’re playing against an opponent, and not people who know everything you’re doing every day, and with no (referees), I think he’s going to feel better about himself. I think he will surprise himself.’ It is no surprise that Duncan believes Ginobili’s mere presence in uniform will be an emotional boost for the Spurs. ‘What he brings to the table is nothing you can orchestrate,’ Duncan said.”
Ray Richardson of the Pioneer Press: “Don’t be fooled by the childish grin or the polite manners. There’s a schoolboy nature about Jonny Flynn — but not on a basketball court. The Timberwolves’ rookie point guard is fearless in the face of full-court pressure and on drives to the basket. His undersized, 6-foot frame was knocked to the floor on layup attempts numerous times in the NBA preseason. Big deal. Flynn gets up, shoots his free throws and waits for the next opportunity to go right back into the lane among players who tower over him. ‘He’s a giant inside that small body,’ Timberwolves forward Al Jefferson said. ‘He won’t be denied. That’s the type of leader from the point guard position we need for our team.’ Though he played just two years of college basketball at Syracuse, the Timberwolves are entrusting their makeover to Flynn, the No. 6 overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft. If Flynn is recovered from flu symptoms, the process starts tonight with the Wolves’ regular-season opener against New Jersey at Target Center. As soon as Flynn heard about his selection by the Wolves, a long-awaited opportunity had come true for him. Flynn, the son of a minister, had envisioned being the leader of an NBA team in the same fashion as such elite point guards as Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas and current performers Chris Paul of New Orleans, Jason Kidd of Dallas and Chicago’s Derrick Rose.”
Phil Jasner of the Philadelphia Daily News: “The kid – and, yes, at 23, he’s still a kid – has played in 252 games in four seasons with the 76ers. He has been on the court for 4,615 minutes. He has been out there lots of times at the end of games. But never at the start. Until tonight. ‘I’ve played it in my head a couple of times – I’ve played the game already,’ Lou Williams was saying, celebrating his birthday and looking ahead to being a starting guard for the first time when the 76ers open their NBA season tonight in Orlando. But he is very clear on how he intends to approach his long-awaited assignment: He has no intention of trying to replace Andre Miller, last season’s starter. ‘We have this team book, and everybody has a role in the book,’ Williams said after practice yesterday at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. ‘My role is, ‘Stay aggressive, attack the rim.’ It doesn’t say, ‘Dribble, dribble, dribble, pass, pass, pass.’ I understand I have to keep things organized, but as far as trying to replace Andre Miller, it’s not going to happen.’ Miller was the quarterback, the one talking to teammates as they came out of timeout huddles, positioning them on the floor in the midst of halfcourt sets, making the most of his vast basketball IQ. Williams sees his new role as being part of ‘a five-guy offense, which is great.’ ‘It’s not one guy trying to go up there and make plays for everybody else,’ he said. ‘It gives five guys an opportunity to make plays.’”
Bob Ryan of The Boston Globe: “Glen Davis is a big part of the Celtics picture, in more ways than one. He was an integral part of a bench unit Doc had hoped would be among the league’s best. His uncategorizable versatility made him a difficult matchup for opponents, because Baby has both a power game and a finesse game flowing out of that 6-foot-8-inch, God-knows-whatever-pound body. He has grasped the team defensive concepts in a way the lovable and rootable Leon Powe never did. He is also one of those guys around whom things just kind of happen. In the entire NBA, there is no one quite like him. I suppose the timing is good, actually. Better to know right now that a person you thought was going to be important won’t be there than to lose him after you’d gotten used to what he would bring to the table, isn’t it? I think so. The Celtics know precisely where they stand, and what they must do. Anyway, it’s not a career-threatening incident; it’s a setback. Every player has a physical setback, sooner or later. But it’s troubling to the Celtics, because in the back of their minds they’ve probably always worried that Baby would live up to the nickname and get involved in something stupid. Lord knows he’s good-natured and fun to have around. But he’s also out there, you know? On a 1-to-10 maturity scale, the brass has had him pegged at about a 5.”
Doug Smith of the Toronto Star: “You can’t touch it or smell it or measure it in any quantifiable manner. It’s an elusive concept that many talk about but no one can really clearly define. Yet it may be the one thing that determines whether the Raptors’ season, which opens Wednesday night as they host the Cleveland Cavaliers, is a wild success or an unqualified failure. It is team chemistry, which can be getting disparate personalities not familiar with each other to mesh into a cohesive unit or asking some to accept lesser roles for the common good or simply respecting each other as people and co-workers. Maybe the best way to put it is that the elusive ‘chemistry’ means never having to say you’re sorry. ‘It’s being able to challenge each other,’ said guard Jarrett Jack. ‘Getting on somebody when you feel they’re not pulling their weight. Somebody getting on you and you being able to accept it and not take it personally. Being one unit all together.’ With nine new faces to assimilate from the group that ended last season, the Raptors are challenged with becoming a team more quickly than anyone would like. Along with revamping the roster, they’ve also revamped the locker room and the dynamic of the team. ‘That’s very important, that’s the most important part,’ Chris Bosh said of the off-the-court relationships. ‘You have to be able to approach a guy. If you come into a guy you don’t like, and he’s trying to tell you, `you gotta roll,’ you’re going to give him a piece of your mind.’”
Monta Poole of The Oakland Tribune: “Monta Ellis is the pivotal player on this team, and he knows it. He’ll have the ball often, he’ll shoot it often and, more to the point, he has been thrust into a position of at least nominal authority. On a Warriors team where a realistic over/under for wins is 30, no one — not even accomplished vet Stephen Jackson — will have more to say about which side of 30 they will finish. Does he even feel like a veteran? ‘Not really,’ he said Tuesday. ‘To me, it’s just another year.’ How about being named captain, after Jackson resigned from the position? ‘It means a lot, but I’m not going to try to take it all upon myself,’ he said. ‘We’ve got great guys. Me and Andris (Biedrins) are captains. Jack is still a captain, in a sense. Corey (Maggette), Ronny (Turiaf) … we have a lot of guys who can help me out as being the guy.’ If this were based strictly on his ability, the concept might be reasonably salable to the average Warriors fan. Ellis at his best is one of the purest offensive players in the league, with a game borrowing liberally and quite well from Allen Iverson. But asking Monta to become The Guy for this sub-mediocre team demands a commitment of heart and soul, a dedication and fearlessness that can be seen and heard and felt by those around him.”
John Jackson of the Chicago Sun-Times: “While confidence was never an issue for Rose last season, there was something noticeably different about the player who showed up at training camp a month ago. It’s tough to explain, but it was as if his aura had changed. Although he had yet to celebrate his 21st birthday at that point — that didn’t come until Oct. 4 — Rose had been transformed from a humble rookie eager to learn to a savvy veteran who knew how good he was and what he needed to do to improve. It wasn’t cockiness, just a quiet confidence that all the great players have. Rose has put the controversies of the early summer behind him — the photo of him flashing a gang sign at a party during his year at Memphis and the charge that someone took the SAT for him during his senior year at Simeon — and has big plans for this season. That much was obvious Tuesday when I asked him what his main goal was. ‘I just want to be the best at my position,’ he said, ‘just compete every time I go out there and win games.’”
Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post: “Chauncey Billups turned 33 last month. At some point in his career, he’s going to slow down. Right? Karl said he will monitor Billups’ minutes this season and make sure he’s rested for the playoffs by utilizing Anthony Carter and rookie Ty Lawson. Karl likens Billups to Hall of Famer John Stockton, who was near 33 when Karl asked aloud if Stockton ‘would be a year better or a year older?’ (Stockton went on to play in two NBA Finals in his mid-30s.) ‘He kept getting a year better,’ Karl said of Utah’s legendary point guard. ‘(Billups) is not faster, stronger or bigger, but he’s smarter, cleverer, more team-oriented. As a leader and orchestrator of a team, Chauncey does it with his experiences, heart and head as much as with his skill. His advantage is understanding score, time and how to win games. Basically, having positive energy. A lot of young players get into who’s taking shots, who’s getting minutes. Chauncey just wants the team to play well.’”
Terry Foster of The Detroit Free Press: “His signature block has been captured on posters all over the city. It came on a play that changed the 2004 Eastern Conference finals against the Pacers. On that block on Reggie Miller, Pistons forward Tayshaun Prince gave every ounce of energy to run cross-court on what the NBA called one of the 60 best plays in history. Hustle plays like that made the 2004 Pistons champions. But Prince doesn’t see that hustle and grit now, not on this Detroit team. And that’s why he’s disturbed as Detroit opens the season tonight in Memphis. Prince believes the Pistons are a decent team, but he realizes they need to play better defense if they expect to challenge in the competitive Eastern Conference. ‘That is what we have to do to win,’ he said. ‘That is what I have to do. It has shown (during the exhibition season) we struggle defensively.’ The Pistons are a bad defensive team struggling in a league that has put more of a premium on offense. Team president Joe Dumars seems to be buying into the new emphasis on scoring, as evidenced by his offseason acquisitions (forward Charlie Villanueva and shooting guard Ben Gordon).”
Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee: “As new Kings coach Paul Westphal is surely discovering, Hawes is to words what Cezanne is to landscapes – colorful, intriguing and prolific. Nonetheless, it’s the center’s on-court performance, whether he emerges as an improved defender and rebounder, that could dictate whether the Kings pleasantly surprise or merely limp toward another NBA lottery. At 7-foot-1 and 245 pounds, Hawes is a very large man. And massive expectations arrive with the package. Forget that the incumbent (and apparently former) starting center is only 21, that he would be a senior had he remained in college, that he displays a boyish petulance at times. He has as many skills in his repertoire as an artist has colors on his palette. And Season III is huge. It’s when identities and reputations are established, when league executives look at players and declare, ‘OK, this is who he is.’ So what should the Kings expect from Hawes? More consistent rebounding. A greater willingness to absorb contact down low. More offense generated in the low post. More resistance underneath. More of everything.”
Scott Bordow of the East Valley Tribune: “The Suns’ rebound differential in their eight preseason games was minus 8.87. To put that in perspective, the next worst team was the Mini-Me Golden State Warriors, who were a minus 4.75. Last year, Phoenix was plus 0.9 in rebounding differential. ‘We have to get better at it,’ Gentry said. ‘That’s one of the things we keep harping on.’ But can they? Starting center Channing Frye never has averaged more than 5.8 rebounds per game, and his rebounding numbers have dropped each of his four NBA seasons. Amaré Stoudemire averaged 8.1 rebounds last year before being sidelined with a torn retina, but we all know his first priority isn’t to be a beast on the boards. Gentry’s ‘rebounding by committee’ approach? That usually works about as well as a bullpen by committee. This is a critical issue for the Suns. If they can’t rebound, they can’t run. And if they can’t run, they can’t win. Plus, how will Phoenix get out on the fast break if its guards and forwards are trying to prop up Stoudemire and Frye around the basket?”
Ross Siler of The Salt Lake Tribune: “Jazz coach Jerry Sloan doesn’t cite statistics often – - sorry, David Locke – - so when he does, it’s well worth paying attention to what he’s saying. Sloan brought up some numbers Tuesday in talking about Chris Andersen’s impact on the Denver Nuggets. There’s no telling whether Andersen would be a good fit for a coach like Sloan, but it’s clear he appreciates the 2.5 blocks a game that the Bird Man contributed off the bench last season for a Nuggets team that reached the Western Conference finals. ‘Any team that has shot blocking, you go look and see, field-goal percentage is about 42 to 43 percent,’ Sloan said. ‘If you don’t have shot blocking, you’re running around 45, 46 percent in field-goal percentage. That’s one of the things that hurts our team. When we had Mark Eaton and Greg Ostertag we were one of the top three or four [teams] all the time in defense, in field-goal percentage. Since we don’t have shot-blocking, that’s dropped off tremendously. That has a lot to do with winning games and protecting the paint. If you don’t have shot blockers, you have to protect it with your body.’”
Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal: “Michael Heisley is a fan first. So when it comes to Iverson, forget it. Just consider Heisley a part of the cult following for the diminutive guard. ‘There’s nothing about Allen Iverson that I don’t like,’ Heisley said. ‘I admire him. I admire a guy who hasn’t forgotten where he came from. I don’t do that. Whatever happens, I’m happy to have him. As for Zach Randolph, I don’t know how anybody could say a guy who was 20 and 10 (points and rebounds) last year is a risk?’ The Griz aren’t concerned about the potential character issues with Iverson. The risk, from a franchise view, is Iverson’s health. Iverson missed the entire preseason with a hamstring injury, and the 34-year-old is doubtful for the season opener. ‘The Grizzlies have good young talent and (Heisley) saw a chance to take another step with these veteran players,’ Jerry West said. ‘You need two or three really good players to win in the NBA. They lost a lot of close games last year. By adding these veteran players, his hope is they can win those close games and give people a reason to come to games.’”
Howard Beck of The New York Times: “N.B.A. executives and scouts are generally skeptical about the Knicks’ young core. Gallinari needed back surgery last spring and must prove he is more than a 3-point specialist. Chandler is a versatile athlete, but so far an ordinary player. Lee is a rugged rebounder and interior scorer, but he is lacking as a defender and may have already reached his limits. Jordan Hill, the Knicks’ 2009 lottery pick, had a forgettable preseason. ‘We have to keep developing the young guys that we are going to go forward with, and then win,’ D’Antoni said. ‘I think Wilson and Gallo and different guys on the team can be very good players. We need to put them up a notch. And that would mean a lot of wins. So it kind of goes hand in hand.’ Four of the Knicks’ top rotation players — Lee, Nate Robinson, Chris Duhon and Al Harrington — are free agents next summer and may have to be waived to clear cap space. That, too, makes the sales job difficult. There is unquestionably an increased urgency for the Knicks’ three best young players — Gallinari, Chandler and Lee — to grow up and deliver soon. ‘It would be true whether I was going into free agency or not,’ said Donnie Walsh, the team president. ‘I have confidence that we’ll have good players on this team that free agents will say, ‘Yeah, that guy, I’d like to play with him.’ ’”
Dan Steinberg of The Washington Post: “What are the defining characteristics of the Washington Wizards? In the past, I might have mentioned the sense of humor, but the funny stuff is mostly in storage, with one player after another proclaiming that you can’t be funny when you’ve got 19 wins. A seething distrust of all things LeBron also used to be part of the deal. But I watched with my own eyes as Nick Young bought some of LeBron’s Nikes in Las Vegas this summer, and Mike Miller actually wears them onto the court without suffering excommunication. So that’s out, too. General weirdness also used to be a staple, headlined by Gilbert Arenas’s thought-provoking mono-blogues. Now, when he deigns to speak with members of the media, it’s with the sort of electric flavor-burst usually associated with sawdust-and-cardboard-sprinkled oatmeal. And so, what’s left? If one of the team’s newcomers asked a longtime vet what he needs to know about being a member of this franchise, what key piece of franchise DNA would the veteran identify? ‘Lot of swag,’ DeShawn Stevenson said. ‘Just go out there and play with heart. We’ve got a good team, a good, focused team. A lot of people have good characters on our team, [so] just go out there and work hard.’ Wait, still with the swag? A team coming off 19 wins can still have swag?”
Tony Bizjak and Ryan Lillis of the Sacramento Bee: “Would you pony up $100,000 or more for a 30-year ‘mortgage’ to buy your own personal seat up close at Sacramento Kings games? That’s what city officials, eager to find a way to get the Kings a new arena, are wondering. Officials have met twice recently with a Chicago-based company pitching the concept of ‘equity seat rights’ or ‘seat mortgages’ to finance stadiums and arenas without having to go hat-in-hand to voters with unpopular tax increase proposals. The company, Stadium Capital Financing Group, is putting together a similar deal to renovate the football stadium at the University of California, Berkeley. There about 3,000 seats are for sale to fans, ranging from $40,000 to $220,000 per seat, university officials said. Fans purchase the seats for 40 or 50 years and either pay in whole upfront or in annual chunks. An official with Stadium Capital estimated it would take fewer than 2,000 seat sales in Sacramento – in an arena with 18,000-plus seats – to finance construction of what could be a $500 million facility.”
Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer: “There’s a story they tell in Philadelphia about Larry Brown and coaching basketball. Not Brown coaching pros. Not Brown coaching college kids. Just coaching. It was the NBA’s lockout winter (1998-99), and the 76ers were trooping some management types to an inner-city Boys Club on a marketing mission. Only, when the head coach was summoned to address the function, he’d wandered off to the next room. That room was a gymnasium, the place Brown is most comfortable. It was filled with kids playing pick-up ball. Brown sauntered over. He started a conversation. And within minutes he was organizing, fussing, teaching teenagers to play the right way. He can’t help himself. He’s a gardener passing a flower bed – you pull a few weeds before moving along, right? For him, it’s a compulsion – the only thing he ever wanted to do. But it’s also a pact of sorts. Through happenstance – and happenstance is not a word often associated with the Charlotte Bobcats’ head coach – Brown received a gift of knowledge from three men, three of the best coaches ever. To not pass on that gift would dishonor them. ‘Nobody has ever been as fortunate as me,’ he said of his mentors. ‘They all cared about the kids, valued the game and raised the bar.’ That man you’ll see tonight, coaching the Bobcats in their season opener in Boston – a 69-year-old wrapped in Armani suits and designer specs – is quite different from the kid who showed up on North Carolina’s campus in 1959, fatherless, poor and insecure.”
